...Haji Burget Khan and the other captives were brought to KAF and desposited in metal cages stacked side by side in the open air and flooded by bright white lights. They were forced to kneel there for hours, their hands bound behind them. Some passed out from the pain. Some lost sensation in their hands and feet.

Then they were marched into a room and made to strip and stand in front of American soldiers for inspection, inspiring a humiliation that, in the Pashtun ethos, was difficult to imagine. 'When they made us walk naked in front of all these Americans,' captive Abdul Wahid later told a reporter, ' I was praying to God to let me die. If someone could have sold me a poisoned tablet for $100,000, I would have bought it.'

In a final act of emasculation, soldiers appeared with clippers. One by one the captives' beards were shaven off, and many of them broke down in tears. Some for resisting, had their eyebrows removed as well.

Hajji Burget Khan, tribal leader and war hero, would not be seen alive again. The truth of what happened in his final hours may never be seen known. One account has it that he died en route to KAF from his gunshot wound. Another version, a confidential dispatch FROM THE CANADIAN JOINT TASK FORCE 2, PART OF THE SPECIAL FORCES TEAM THAT CARRIED OUT THE RAID, states that 'an elderly father died while in custody', at Kandahar Airfield, 'reportedly from a butt stroke to the head, which has caused much grief in the village.'

Yet it soon became apparent that the captives had all followed Burget Khan in embracing the new American order. A few months earlier many of these farmers had packed the stadium waving the new Afghan flag and chanting in favor of the coming loya jirga. Now for the first time, anti-American slogans filled the air..."

CBC once reported JFT2 was investigated for 'unlawful killings' in Afghanistan in secret proceedings. I never heard of any 'findings'.

"The ISIL Takfiri terrorist group has released a new video apparently showing the beheading of a member of the Taliban militant group in Afghanistan. The Takfiri terrorists, who are carrying out terrorist operations in Iraq and neighboring Syria, have demanded that the local Taliban pledge allegiance to their group."

"Can the Afghan government reach reconciliation with the Taliban and maintain independence from foreign influence? And how will it contend with the growing Islamic State footprint on its territory? Oksana is joined by the former President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai to thrash out these issues."

"... The potential spread factor of ISIS means that Afghanistan is probably worse off today than when foreign forces intervened in 2001. Expect to hear more about Afghanistan over the next year, because a bad situation is turning much worse."

"The Taliban has taken responsibility for a suicide bombing which killed six US troops near the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, and injured others. Later, rockets reportedly hit Kabuil, with some reports indicating one landed near the US embassy."

Hey Canucklheads, all your blood and treasure gone for nought. "Worse today than 2001". Don't let your government repeat the mistake in Syriaq...

As the Afghan government suffers more losses on the ground, a landmark peace conference hosted by Russia could mark a shift in the 17-year war. The Taliban is there in its highest level diplomatic engagement in years.

quote:

VIJAY PRASHAD:You know, in 2007 there was a previous summit of this nature. Remember, 2007 is more than a decade ago. So it’s very significant that the last time this kind of grouping was attempted to be arranged was over 10 years ago of this really heartless war. And that time India was offered a seat at the table, and the government said, no, we don’t want to come, because there’s no such thing as a good Taliban and bad Taliban. There’s only the terrorists.

I think that understanding is modulated, to some extent. The way India has understood the Taliban is that they see the Taliban as a proxy force for Pakistan inside Afghanistan. People need to understand that the situation in Afghanistan isn’t merely about the Cold War. You know, the United States and Russia, and so on. It’s also a battlefield where India and Pakistan have been jockeying for power. You know, Afghanistan and Pakistan have a border dispute that goes back to the 1940s. And India has actually had a role in, is sort of perpetuating that tension in the region. And Pakistan has used the Taliban as its sort of forward proxy force inside Afghanistan.

So there is this tension between India and Pakistan manifest tragically inside Afghanistan. And I think now, as I said, there’s a modulation coming in. India is very keen to develop this port in Iran where it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the Chabahar Port, which is to take goods from India, through Iran, into Afghanistan, and then out through Central Asia to Russia. It’s a major market for Indian goods. So India is keen to bring some peace into Afghanistan. I think that really is what has brought India to the table in Moscow.

quote:

VIJAY PRASHAD: Inside the Taliban there are two, I think, debates that people need to pay attention to. The first is the Taliban leadership is quite concerned that it’s losing its rank and file to far more radical forces, including the Islamic State, or ISIS, which has a presence in sections of southern Afghanistan. So there is, I think, a tension here upon the Taliban leadership that unless they move the agenda forward, this sort of war of attrition that has been going on for 17 years might lose them their base to far more radical, far more dangerous forces. That’s one, I think, important thing that’s on the minds of the leadership of the Taliban.

I think the second aspect that needs to be paid attention to is that the Taliban is cautious about entering political life, aboveground political life. The government in Kabul led by Ashraf Ghani, former World Bank official, has made it clear that he is at the point where he’s willing to welcome the Taliban as a political party. And there’s this debate inside the Taliban of whether they’ll be able to pivot into becoming a legitimate political party. Because they look back at the earlier period when the mujahadeen or the fighters arrived in Kabul and basically became warlords. This is not something that they are keen on.

So I would say that we need to pay attention to this worry in the Taliban about losing their fighters to the Islamic State. And on the other hand, I think this tension inside the Taliban about whether they are ready to, you know, become a political party, I think that’s what’s driving them towards the table.

It sounds like (could be wrong?) that the US really wants peace in Afghanistan! But why is there no mention of Trump? Or why is Trump, or at least appears to be silent on all of this? Has Afghanistan been lost in the western media? And is the silence from the western media actually a good thing?

With the interest of India, Taliban, China and Iran, I'm optimistic that something solid will come out of this meeting!

Perhaps it was necessary for the US to make serious concessions for there to be peace. This may be perceived as weakness, so better to just hush this away from western media and pretend Afghanistan doesn't matter any more and move on to something else?

It sounds like (could be wrong?) that the US really wants peace in Afghanistan!

I think the US just wants out of Afghanistan rather than caring about peace. They have Afghanistan (and Iraq) fatigue. Their soldiers are tired of being there, their leadership is tired and so too are the people back home. They've tried a large footprint, small foot print, conventional forces, special operations forces and nothing short of a full scale war is going to work.

The US can either permanently garrison Afghanistan or they can leave- how to leave is the big question. The minute the US leaves the Taliban will move in. The Afghan National Army (ANA) can't defend themselves against the Taliban no matter how much training or equipment they're given.

Wether it's the US or Taliban calling the shots in Afghanistan the locals won't be free in any sense of the word. A parody of democracy rife with corruption or religious dictatorship are their government options.

The Taliban aren't stupid and know the US has Afghanistan fatigue. They know "coming to the table" will hasten the US withdraw and let them slide in to a position of power.

Wether it's the US or Taliban calling the shots in Afghanistan the locals won't be free in any sense of the word.

So helpful of you to tell the Afghan "locals" how to achieve freedom.

Quote:

The Taliban aren't stupid ...

Finally, we agree. The Afghan people will win! I started that theme many years ago, and it continues to be true. The U.S. has lost every single war it has started. And they will lose again. Hasta la victoria siempre!

I thought so too. Maybe locals isn't the choice word to use, perhaps Afghanistan citizens? Either way there are a lot of foreigners who have set up shop and living in Afghanistan. Businessmen, contractors, foreign workers, Academi (formerly known as Blackwater), all the companies providing various services.

I think my observation is still accurate. Either the US will be the puppet government or the Taliban and in the case of the latter there will be lots of obstacles for them to overcome if they become the countries government if we're talking about providing serviced

Definition of winning is subjective here. Is the Taliban and their beliefs in line with the majority of Afghanis? Is banning music, dancing, laughing in public considered winning? Maybe not so much for them but it's time we stop using such righteous reasons to justify medeling other countries affairs. If the Afghan people want change and don't want to live under the Taliban's dictatorship then let them fight that battle themselves.

Unfortunately I can also see Canadian soldiers back in Afghanistan within a year or two in an advisory role or even peacekeeping.

"Afghanistan now feels like a more dangerous place than it did four years ago - according to the leader of a US congressional delegation which visited the country this week - specifying the rise of the ISIS branch in the region, known as ISIS-K."

Brought in by the Americans according to ex Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

"There is no real reason for the NATO presence in Afghanistan. In the words of the WWI dirge sung by British soldiers in France, 'We're here, because we're here, because we're here.' They got there because the US was hell-bent on war. And this war has had a most significant and disastrous spin-off that the drum-thumpers didn't think about. It has shown the world that there has been yet another war which the US couldn't and can't win.

The foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan - about 3,500 of them, including the 1,892 American combatants - have died for nothing. The entire war has been a disgraceful catastrophe...